LEBANON, Pa. (AP) When SpaceXs Dragon rocket launched on Dec. 6 bound for the International Space Station, it brought a piece of Lebanon County with it.

A patch created by 4th-grader and Lebanon native Joshua Ferguson, a student at Milton Hershey School, was selected to be sent on SpaceXs Commercial Resupply Services mission to the International Space Station as part of the Student Spaceflight Experiments Program.

Joshua created the patch in 2019 when he was still in 2nd grade.

Joshua was ecstatic when he learned that his patch was chosen. I jumped a lot and was screaming a lot, he recalled. I had so many emotions, like woahhh is this really happening, I cant believe that this is going on!

At Milton Hershey, located in Hershey, more than 370 total patches were submitted as part of the contest, 143 created by first- and 2nd-grade students and 231 by 3rd- and 4th-graders. One patch from the first two grades and another from the second two grades were selected by the school to be sent to the space station.

The mission taking Joshuas art to the ISS also contains art from another Milton Hershey student, Zoya Johnson, now in 6th grade.

Students in kindergarten through 4th grade and also teachers voted for the winning patch during lunchtime, where they were displayed to vote. Joshuas patch was one of the two winners, even though he doesnt usually spend his time drawing, preferring Legos and miniature soldiers. The other patch was created by Zoya Johnson, now in 6th grade.

In total, sixty-seven patches were selected out of a total of 21,200 submitted on an international level, with entries reflecting the international in the stations name: students from Brazil and Canada also saw patches included in the launch.

I saw another patch of NASAs that had a rocket on it, so wanted to do that but wanted the rocket to be the main part of the patch, Joshua replied after being asked about the design of his patch. Jupiter is in the background, because its a planet. Saturn had too big of rings and Jupiter is large, so I could fit the M and S in it. The two letters stand for Milton Hershey School.

Joshua Fergusons art contains Jupiter, Saturn, the SpaceX rocket, the International Space Station, Earth and elements meant to celebrate Milton Hershey.

Milton Hershey applied to partner with the Student Spaceflight Experiments Program in 2019 and was selected by NASA to participate. That year, high school students at the school saw their gravity-related experiments sent into space and returned to Earth.

Joshua wants to be an aerospace engineer when he grows up. When I heard about the patch, in Mr. Crowleys room, I said that if I win this, I want to devote my life to space, he said.

He added that the sheer size of space and the fact that most of it remains a complete mystery makes him want to devote his life to the topic. Joshua is getting a telescope soon. I probably cant find unknown stuff, but I want to learn the basics, he said.

More than 1 million people, including Joshua, watched the launch via a video livestream at 9:45 a.m. last Sunday. According to the student space program, the spacecraft is set to land on Earth again on Jan. 8, although it is as yet unknown when Joshuas patch will return to Earth.

But he is anticipating the day it does. When it comes back, we will probably buy a pretty expensive frame and hang it up in the house, he predicted.

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